Is it me or is it really that hard to explain the idea and value of thinking? About anything?

Go on argue with me

It staggers me that it is such a hard concept. And given the state of most systems we have to suffer (Airports/Politics/Supermarkets) and businesses (Kodak/Enron/Blockbuster) and individuals (Not Saying) that I come across then thinking is something that needs to happen a whole lot more.

We need to make thinking the new celebrity TVOK so try this.

If we break everything we experience in life down into to very simple ideas then this is about as simple as I can make it -

We have one or other of these situations.

A. A challenge

B. An opportunity

And they are ALWAYS driven by circumstances – stuff happens right?

And once we’ve identified an A or a B we have a further challenge. The closeness of A or B to us. This closeness creates real difficulty. It blinds us to what is actually going on.“Objectivity Is Not A Role We Alone Can Own.”

It’s very hard almost impossible for us to think objectively – to be able to alter our own ‘frame’. The frame we have through which to think about the solution to an A or a B.

Closeness creates a bunch of side effects that confuse us. We defend crazy positions that we took in a different era. We become frenzied to solve the challenge we see. We protest that we know the answer to it all before we’ve even considered it – at all. We can’t describe it in the first place. We start to solve the wrong problems really well.

What’s Up With That?
Fundamentally we just cannot stand back far enough from the thing to really SEE what’s going on.

Let’s face it we all suffer from 4 restraints.

Objectivity – naturally enough we are too close to ‘it’ to be able to see ‘it’.

Impartiality – we think we know how to solve ‘it’ – before we know what ‘it’ is.

Capability – once we figure the ‘it’ out we realise we’ve not been there before. So we can often lack the skills and general experience to deliver ‘it’.

Capacity – we can often lack the time and space to do the real ‘it’ justice.

We also lack the creativity or experience sometimes -

We all need a way of thinking differently if we are to progress and generate real value.

A plan that inspires and engages everyone – not some dumb stupid document or deck.

A way of making it happen in a way that actually happens.

A world view that brings evidence and examples that work.

And this demands -

Confidence in that objective team and its tools and techniques.

Committed and conscious engagement

Quality time dedicated to the challenge

But above all it needs creativity, integrity and the ability to make it real.